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bookishwyvern07's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
sharron_joy_reads's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Becky can’t believe her luck, a summer job babysitting a cute baby boy on an island, the money will help pay for her college fees and she gets to read and sunbathe when little Devon is asleep. But why do accidents start happening? Where does the mother, Mrs Nelson go all day? Who keep leaving the broken dolls around the cabin?
This was the June Tales Point Horror book pick and it was great fun. More mystery than horror, it is a compelling story, clues to be found, questions to be asked and who is the teenage boy Cleve watching her and is he the person behind it all? A lovely twist that even though you could see coming, was very satisfying.
Love these books, they are very of the 90’s but the nostalgia is like a warm hug! Onto July 🫠
bibliophileroxy's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
ntharpta1's review
dark
mysterious
3.5
One of the better Point Horror books. It had its issues but was still a fun read.
wyrmbergmalcolm's review against another edition
4.0
Have read a few rather indifferent entries in this series, I felt this was a bit of a step up. The story made sense, the characters acted like human beings and the 'threat' was nicely ambiguous with the revelation coming from a good direction. Okay, the 'villain' is a bit problematic, but the story flowed well.
liamunderwood's review against another edition
2.0
After the supernatural elements in the recent Point Horror books I've read - The Cheerleader and The Accident - it was somewhat mundane to be back in familiar Point Horror territory of hapless babysitting teens and ringing phones and mysterious accidents. Sadly, Mother's Helper really didn't bring much new to the table.
This is my first Point Horror book authored by A. Bates, although her short story Deathflash did appear in Thirteen Tales of Horror, and didn't really work for me. Mother's Helper feels like it's taken a page or two from the Goosebumps school of pacing. Several chapters aren't even an entire page long, often concluding quite abruptly. Chapters whizz by as the book is stuffed with artificial chapter endings.
As I've mentioned previously, I'm typically pretty bad at figuring out Point Horror whodunit's, but this one I had sussed within the first thirty pages, resulting in the rest of the book speeding to an inevitable conclusion. Thankfully the protagonist is pretty likeable, although Bates bizarrely tries to frame a lot of character development around an incident which happens prior to the events of this book and is only very briefly mentioned towards the start, before being resurrected at the climax in an attempt to show growth.
Whilst this isn't one of the better Point Horror books, the pacing ensured I never got bored and I found myself reading through this pretty quickly. The tropes evident here have already been done in prior Point Horror books, and done better (see some of the more favourably rated entries below), but at least this didn't contain any real insufferable characters and at least it wasn't boring.
2/5
Point Horror Ranked
1) Trick or Treat - 3.5/5
2) Teacher's Pet - 3.5/5
3) The Baby-Sitter II - 3.5/5
4) The Cheerleader - 3.5/5
5) April Fools - 3.5/5
6) My Secret Admirer - 3.5/5
7) The Lifeguard - 3.5/5
8) Thirteen Tales of Horror - 3/5
9) The Accident - 3/5
10) Funhouse - 3/5
11) The Boyfriend - 2/5
12) Mother's Helper - 2/5
12) The Baby-Sitter - 1.5/5
13) Beach Party - 1/5
This is my first Point Horror book authored by A. Bates, although her short story Deathflash did appear in Thirteen Tales of Horror, and didn't really work for me. Mother's Helper feels like it's taken a page or two from the Goosebumps school of pacing. Several chapters aren't even an entire page long, often concluding quite abruptly. Chapters whizz by as the book is stuffed with artificial chapter endings.
As I've mentioned previously, I'm typically pretty bad at figuring out Point Horror whodunit's, but this one I had sussed within the first thirty pages, resulting in the rest of the book speeding to an inevitable conclusion. Thankfully the protagonist is pretty likeable, although Bates bizarrely tries to frame a lot of character development around an incident which happens prior to the events of this book and is only very briefly mentioned towards the start, before being resurrected at the climax in an attempt to show growth.
Whilst this isn't one of the better Point Horror books, the pacing ensured I never got bored and I found myself reading through this pretty quickly. The tropes evident here have already been done in prior Point Horror books, and done better (see some of the more favourably rated entries below), but at least this didn't contain any real insufferable characters and at least it wasn't boring.
2/5
Point Horror Ranked
1) Trick or Treat - 3.5/5
2) Teacher's Pet - 3.5/5
3) The Baby-Sitter II - 3.5/5
4) The Cheerleader - 3.5/5
5) April Fools - 3.5/5
6) My Secret Admirer - 3.5/5
7) The Lifeguard - 3.5/5
8) Thirteen Tales of Horror - 3/5
9) The Accident - 3/5
10) Funhouse - 3/5
11) The Boyfriend - 2/5
12) Mother's Helper - 2/5
12) The Baby-Sitter - 1.5/5
13) Beach Party - 1/5
odrib's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Racial slurs